Preview: Mobile World Congress hopes for bigger bash as Spain eases restrictions

SK Telecom Co

09/02/2022 15:27

By Supantha Mukherjee and Joan Faus
    STOCKHOLM/BARCELONA, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The Mobile World
Congress (MWC), telecoms industry's biggest annual gathering, is
hoping to attract about 50,000 attendees in the Spanish city of
Barcelona, making it one of the biggest physical events since
the start of the pandemic.
    Online conferences have become the norm for the past two
years, boosting the valuations of conferencing companies such as
Zoom  ZM.O  and Hopin, but as the pandemic recedes the appetite
for doing business in person is slowing recovering. 
    This year top executives from Nokia  NOKIA.HE , Ericsson
 ERICb.ST , Amazon  AMZN.O  and Cisco  CSCO.O  have confirmed
their attendance at the conference after a gap of two years.
    While a handful of companies such as Lenovo  0992.HK  are
attending virtually, most other big names including Samsung
 005930.KS  and Huawei  HWT.UL  will be showcasing new products
at the venue.
    "I am desperate to connect with people in real life again,"
said Allison Kirkby, CEO of Telia  TELIA.ST . "Innovation only
happens when people come together."        
    MWC was one of the first events to be cancelled in 2020 as
COVID-19 started to sweep across the world. Normally held in
February, in 2021 it was switched to June and a cut-size
version.
    While the expected attendance for this year is less than
half the 109,000 registered for 2019, it compares with roughly
20,000 attendees last year. Technology show CES managed https://www.reuters.com/technology/ces-now-end-sooner-than-planned-omicron-concerns-2021-12-31
 40,000 participants in December. 
    "We have 1,500 exhibitors confirmed, 1,000 speakers, and out
of the seven halls that we will engage, we have an 85% occupancy
ratio," Mats Granryd, director general of conference organiser
GSMA said.
    The event will run from February 28 to March 3.  
    While daily coronavirus cases in Spain are still over
40,000, the country has been rolling back restrictions following
a high rate of vaccination, including lifting a mandate for
people to wear masks outdoors from Thursday.
    Many companies are sending out invitations for product
launches, dinner meetings and other events spread across
Barcelona.     
    A vaccine certificate is enough this year to attend MWC,
while last year an attendee had to get tested at the gates of
the venue to gain entry. There will be no-one at the venue this
year reminding attendees to stick to social distancing.
    The event usually provides a significant boost to
Barcelona's economy, with GSMA estimating it brought $500
million to the city in 2019.
    "We are very optimistic and confident that this conference
will really reactivate Barcelona's international and fairs
activity," the city's deputy mayor Jaume Collboni told Reuters.
    "We are telling the world that we are back."   

 (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm and Joan Faus in
Barcelona;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
 ((supantha.mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; +46 70 721 1004;
Reuters Messaging:
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